I made it

---

I arrived in Dublin today to kick off a 2+ month tour of Europe. The trip over was a bit of an adventure as I took the 7:00 am bus from Kutztown, PA up to the NY Port Authority, caught a bus to JFK, flew to Charlotte, flew to Philly then finally flew to Dublin, leaving after 9:00 pm EDT. The logical question is why not fly directly from Philly? Because for some silly reason one way tickets were $2,000 from Philly to Dublin, yet I was able to get a one way with the extra flights for under $400 and still end up on the same flight as the suckers paying two grand. Airlines never cease to amaze me.

I had hoped to get some sleep on the flight to Dublin but that proved to be a struggle. I went with my usual summer attire - cargo shorts and t-shirt - expecting typically comfortable conditions inside the aircraft. After all, they still give out blankets and I could always turn off the air valve overhead. Well that wasn’t nearly enough. As McConnell would say, “it’s like a meat locker in here”. I looked up a couple times to see if there were icicles hanging from the ceiling. Combine all that with the interruptions for meal service after 11:00 (I’ll pass, it’s 4:00 am in Dublin), selling of headphones for the in-flight movie and the duty free call at God knows what hour. At least when the attendant said “duty free” I chuckled, thinking what it must be like for dyslexic people when they hear that.

We arrived on time and I didn’t have any issues catching the bus to get to the hostel, which is located just south of the major tourist area. The hostel is clean and rather nice. It looks like it was recently refurbished. I dropped my large pack off and prepared to begin my touring.

I started with a walk through St. Stephen’s Green, a park near the hostel. The park was very relaxing and scenic, with its various trees, landscaped flowerbeds, manicured lawns and numerous ducks and swans. I sat on one of the benches for a while and took in the environment.

On my way out of the park it began to rain ever so lightly. At first the rain was so soft that it tickled the skin. As it picked up, a number of us waited a few minutes under some trees for the storm to pass.

Once the rain subsided, I walked up Grafton Street, the city’s major shopping area, towards the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College. I walked around Trinity College but opted not to pay to go into the library to see the Book of Kells.

After Trinity College, while walking towards Merrion Square, I noticed a sign on a building for Finn’s Hotel. This was a clear reminder of how this whole trip got started almost three years ago. When things at Wachovia reached rock bottom (following the departure of our senior team and a year of hellish hours), Mark Finn, Catherine Lam and I had debated quitting and backpacking through various parts of the world. Well, here I am. Catherine has done her fair share of travels recently but poor Finn remains in the working world.

I walked around Merrion Square park, observing its beauty and the Georgian style town homes that surround three sides of the park. The most fascinating, albeit odd, part were the brightly painted doors of the town homes.

From there, I walked past the Shelbourne Hotel, Leinster House, National Museum and National Gallery, arriving at the National Library. I decided to walk around the library, not expecting to see much. But I was curious. Inside there were several rooms dedicated to ancestry research, where the public could come in and get assistance discovering their Irish heritage.

I spent the next hour on one of their computers, researching my matrilineal side, as my mother’s father’s father (my great grandfather) was off the boat Irish. My family doesn’t know much about his origins but was always under the impression he was from County Down in Northern Ireland and left from Belfast. In the past few years, we heard a conflicting story that he was actually from Ballymurray in County Roscommon in central Ireland. I researched his name and an approximate date of birth (I thought he was born in 1881). The database returned a birth record match for him which supported the Roscommon story, although the date of birth was listed as January 12, 1880. I’ll have to check with my grandfather and see if this data is correct.

After my research and a brief walk around the library’s reading room, I went back to the hostel to get into my room and freshen up. There I met my roommates Jeff (from Los Angeles), David (pronounced Dahveed) and a friend of his whose name I still couldn’t get after three tries. I think Dahveed and the other guy are from France.

The last touring of the day was in Temple Bar, a pub and restaurant district off the River Liffey. After a whole day of touring around Dublin, it was time for a pint. I had a Kilkenny draft at the original Temple Bar and went to Porterhouse Pub for a couple more rounds and dinner.

I had seen Poterhouse on my walk and was intrigued by the vast selection of house brewed beers, along with daily specials from around the world. There I had a house red ale (quite good) and some abbey dubble by a brewery that sounds something like Grimelong (the beer was so so).

As a gastronomic aficionado in foreign lands, I had to try the Irish stew, the one Irish dish consistently promoted at all the pubs. Well, no one ever goes to Ireland for the food and this is why. It was exactly as expected - meat, potatoes, carrots, onions. No spice. No flair. It was just there. I guess I had hoped I’d discover something very different like I did in Scotland with haggis.

Tomorrow I will continue to tour Dublin and will make a stop at the Guinness Storehouse.

---

Photos

Scenic beauty in the park
Swans on a pond in St. Stephen's Green.

Finn's Hotel
A reminder of how this all got started three years ago.

Georgian Town Homes
These town homes along Merrion Square have brightly painted doors.

Parks
Dublin has a number of parks with green lawns and vivid flowers like these found in Merrion Square.

Comments

[Albert Siggins]

Siggins history
Hello ryan, i have been in contact with Diane and John Ladley, Watford, England who are relatives of Siggins, Ballymurray. I am one of those too but actually live near Ballymurray. Would like to keep in contact with you. Would love to know more about George Siggins who was son of John Siggins (d.1910). George I think is your greatgrandfather? Enjoyed your blog. Regards, Albert Siggins